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Beaucoup Bakery:Delectable Deliciousness

Bakery’s are awesome and definitely a favorite of mine so when I found Jackie Ellis from the Farmers Market at theShangri La site of Market by Jean-Georges I was thrilled to put it mildly. After chatting with her via Twitter she invited me over to her test kitchen at the Woodland Smokehouse to try some of her goodies and have a chat with her. The one thing that struck me right off the bat was how PASSIONATE Jackie is, she exudes creativity and her ability to combine flavors is amazing.

A bit about Jackie:

Jackie Ellis, owner and baker of Beaucoup, taught herself to bake as a child out of recipe books from the library. She would ride her bike to the store and spend her allowance on ingredients. She studied Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art & Design and Graphic Design & Illustration at IDEA Capilano University. 5 years after she started her own design firm, she closed it for a year to study pastries in Paris, performing a stage at the renowned Angelina Salon du Thé. Afterwards, she traveled France and Italy eating her way through each city in search of food at its highest level. She knew that to create amazing food, she would have to know what that tasted like. Upon returning, the concept for Beaucoup Bakery emerged from being equally passionate about the flavors of France and of our childhood memories.

Her face light’s up when she’s taking about her creations and the process of opening the bakery;

“In my mind, neither one is better. There’s nothing like a perfect slice of apple pie but tarte tatin is also heavenly, so why not pick out the best qualities of both and marry them together? In the end, we just want to share amazing food, prepared with passion. It’s our reward to see people’s eyes roll back and hear to them say that it’s the best thing they’ve ever tasted! Hopefully we can make people love food as much as we do!”

Valrhona Brownies with Crystallized Violet. These are delicious and a chocolate lovers dream. They have a texture that is in between a cake brownie and a super dense bar with a rich, deep chocolate flavor.

Marcona Almond Bars with Honey Caramel. A nut lovers dream is how I would describe this bar. The almonds don’t have a toasted flavor to them but instead have an almost buttery, creamy mouth feel. The honey caramel adds a lovely floral caramel flavor. The bottom of the bar is almost like a shortbread and it works very well with the other ingredients in the bar.

Salted Caramel Blondie with Maldon Sea Salt and White Chocolate chunks. This was one of my favorite bars that I’ve tried so far. The salted caramel with the walnuts added a sweet, earthy flavor and the white chocolate rounds out the sweetness of the blondie. The icing on the cake was the gold dust garnish.

Jackie also makes amazing croissants. They are rich and buttery like a great croissant should be and have a flakiness that make them a pleasure to eat.

The Apple Pie Bar was one thing that I have never had before in a bar. The only way that I can describe this is that it’s just like eating a piece of apple pie with streusel topping in a bar form, it’s something that I can see myself eating walking down the street.

Jackies Salted Caramel Éclairs with black sea salt are truly to die for. Filled with a salted caramel vanilla pastry cream and bathed with a crunchy layer of salted caramel on top these go down real easy! This is one of Jackies creations that you must try.

The Hazelnut Lemon Macaron Frais has to be one of the biggest macaron desserts I’ve ever had-it was the size of my fist. Filled with a creamy lemon filling that paired perfectly with the hazelnut this was another winner that is a must try.

Judging from the delicious treats I’ve had so far from Beaucoup Bakery It’s save to say that Jackie Ellis is going to cement her place in food loving Vancouver food scene. The bakery should be open in September, 2012 at Fir and 6th Ave, until then you can find her this Sunday August 19, 2012 at the Vancouver Farmers Market at the Shangri La Hotel on the Jean-Georges Market patio.